Mitigating Spacecraft Charging Issues Through High-Precision, Temperature-Dependent Measurements of Dynamic Radiation Induced Conductivity

One of the most prevalent issues that can lead to issues and even failures of space missions is spacecraft charging, in which the space environment embeds charge into spacecraft, possibly leading to large potential differences and destructive electrostatic discharges. Since many common spacecraft materials are extreme insulators, charge can remain very sedentary at the baseline conductivity., Charge carriers subject to incident radiation can be excited from the valence band and trap states into the conduction band; this Radiation Induced Conductivity (RIC) can be beneficial in charge transport and dissipation. Modeling and predicting charging is a essential for NASA. RIC has been shown to follow the Rose/Fowler/Vaisberg equation: σric = kricDΔ, where D ̇ is the dose rate, while kric and Δ are material and temperature-dependent parameters. Using the intrinsic form of Ohm's Law, RIC can be measured using only the sample thickness and area, applied voltage, and induced current. In previous models of equilibrium RIC, USU databases of kric and Δ are compiled, commonly approximating time-independent RIC as an instantaneous jump at the start/end of applied dose and/or approximating Δ~1. Recent improvements to the USU RIC Chamber (URC) have provided more economical higher-precision data, allowed new opportunities to understand dynamic temperature-dependent RIC, and guided developing better predictive models. The URC will be used to acquire extensive high-precision data, thereby reducing limitations posed by available sparse RIC datasets, especially for temperature- and time-dependent RIC. Material selection will include existing and novel spacecraft materials and those to be used in new NASA missions, selected in consultation with NASA technologists. Higher throughput and operatinion on campus will allow me to investigate and model many independent variables including material, temperature, applied electric field, total dose, dose rate, and dose exposure time and pattern. Expanded models and databases will improve mitigation strategies for NASA missions.

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